Dr. Angel Campos Weighs in on K.H.M.H. Debacle
Angel Campos
Beyond the internal wrangling of the United Democratic Party, conversations this week have been centered around the dire situation that nurses and hospital staff are faced with at the K.H.M.H. On Wednesday, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Workers Union came forward to voice serious concerns regarding a lack of medicine, equipment, human resources and morale. They also vented their frustration with being unable to receive a pension upon retirement. During this morning’s press conference, former Minister of State in the Ministry of Health, Doctor Angel Campos spoke on the issues affecting the employees at the national referral hospital.
Dr. Angel Campos, Former Minister of State, M.O.H.
“Talking about the pensions, this is what most workers at the K.H.M.H. are arguing about. While healthcare workers countrywide, at any public institution pay twenty-five percent income tax and can look forward to a pension at their retirement, the staff at the K.H.M.H. also pays twenty-five percent income tax but have no pension to look forward to. To make matters worse, the severance is also taxable by twenty-five percent. K.H.M.H. never denies private hospital referrals, never denies health center referrals, but yet K.H.M.H. staff are denied their pensions after many selfless years of service. The shortage of staff and the resignation of staff at the K.H.M.H., this directly branches off from the blatant disregard the management and board of K.H.M.H. have shown to the workers, the backbone of K.H.M.H. Never before have mass resignations happened at K.H.M.H. and it will only continue as staff are fed up with the poor working conditions and nil benefits from K.H.M.H. Staff are demoralized and burnt out from the many back-to-back double shifts. Staff are leaving for better working conditions and more benefits with job security at other institutions locally and abroad. K.H.M.H. Authority shows no appreciation of staff, management has never gone out of its way to do any awards of staff with longevity or any special Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or such program for staff to feel appreciated.”
